If you were to imagine swimming in a perfect ocean somewhere off the coast of Africa, it might scare you to know that there was an incredible underwater waterfall that might suck you under and take you with it. And you would be understandably mistaken to think that this might be what awaits you should you go swimming near this underwater waterfall in the Republic of Mauritius. Stunning and dangerous, this underwater waterfall seems to be both beautiful and deadly.

But it secret is that it is just an illusion. That’s right, this beautiful and astonishing waterfall is a trick played on you by mother nature, who was painted it herself. It looks real, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was. It is just an optical illusion however.

Still, beautiful as it is, you probably want to go and see it. If so, you want to go to the island of Mauritius. Mauritius is to be found 2000 km from the south-east coast of Africa. Is nearest country is Madagascar. The illusion that you can see here, is just off the coast of Mauritius.

You probably wondering how that this illusion could have come to be, after all, it is amazing in its complexity. Well, the answer is that this was created by the Mauritius coastline’s unique blend of silt deposits and sand, which move through the area and in doing so change the colour of the water. This is what gives it the appearance of the flowing water of a waterfall.